Taiwan Says 8 Chinese Aircraft Crossed Taiwan Strait Median Line

Taiwan militarily Humvee armed with US-made TOW A2 missiles fires at a target during the missile shooting exercises in Fangshan, Pingtung county, Taiwan, 03 July 2023. (EPA)

05:30-4 July 2023 AD ـ 15 Thul-Hijjah 1444 AH

Taiwan Says 8 Chinese Aircraft Crossed Taiwan Strait Median Line

Taiwan militarily Humvee armed with US-made TOW A2 missiles fires at a target during the missile shooting exercises in Fangshan, Pingtung county, Taiwan, 03 July 2023. (EPA)

Eight Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday morning, Taiwan's defense ministry said, as China ramps up military pressure on the democratic island.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the island's strong objections, has faced in recent years almost daily missions by Chinese military aircraft, often in the southwestern part of the island's air defense identification zone.

A total of 24 Chinese warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, were spotted near Taiwan on Tuesday morning starting at about 8 a.m. (0000 GMT), the defense ministry said, adding four Chinese warships also joined a "joint combat readiness patrol".

Taiwan sent aircraft and ships to warn away the Chinese, while missile systems monitored them, the ministry said, using standard wording for its response.

In a statement, the ministry said it is the joint responsibility for all parties in the region to maintain safety and stability.

"Any provocative behaviour that could bring impacts is not good for regional safety," it said.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, in April staged drills around the island in anger at President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with the speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Taiwan's government strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and vows to defend itself if China attacks the island.

Ukraine Can Play Useful Role in Strait of Hormuz, Britain Says

FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Asharq Al Awsat

11:32-11 April 2026 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1447 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

11:32-11 April 2026 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1447 AH

Ukraine Can Play Useful Role in Strait of Hormuz, Britain Says

FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Ukraine can play a useful role in international efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Britain's armed services minister said, praising its drone technology as among the best in the world.

Britain has organized discussions this month among more than 30 nations on how to reopen the strait, amid an Iranian blockade that has choked oil supplies to the global economy following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, Reuters reported.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week Kyiv had participated in consultations on safeguarding navigation, drawing on expertise from four years of war with ‌Russia. Ukraine has already ‌deployed more than 200 experts to the Middle East, where ‌they ⁠have downed Iran's ⁠long-range Shahed drones.

"Ukraine has some of the best technology in the world that it's developed here in the war. I think that could provide utility in the Middle East, as we're seeing already against Shahed drones, all the way through to the Strait of Hormuz," Al Carns said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday.

Carns, who served as a colonel in Britain's armed forces before being elected to parliament two years ⁠ago, said his visit was intended to reassure Kyiv that the ‌war in Ukraine remained Britain's top defense and ‌security priority.

He played down tensions within the NATO military alliance following US President Donald Trump's ‌criticism of European allies for not joining the Iran war, saying NATO was ‌still the "backbone of our security".

'REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS'

While Britain is providing funding, training and military capability to Ukraine, Carns said there was also much the UK could learn from Kyiv's battlefield innovations, particularly in drone technology, the use of data and AI.

"It's a revolution in military ‌affairs, and we need to move faster," Carns said.

Incorporating advances in warfare into Britain's 10-year defense investment plan - due late ⁠last year - is ⁠taking time but the report will be ready this spring, Carns said.

Carns urged Ukraine to accelerate exports of its cutting-edge technology to capture a corner of the global market before other nations catch up, and to facilitate learning and development with NATO allies.

Ukraine issued its first export licenses in February. Kyiv hopes to raise funds to expand its defense industry while using its weapons as diplomatic leverage with allies.

However, some industry executives have complained Kyiv is dragging its heels in approving licenses and risks missing the opportunity presented by the Iran war.

"Ukraine needs to speed up its capacity to export," Carns said. "I still believe the best systems sit in Ukraine, but the rest of the world is catching up."

Britain is home to a plant making Ukrainian interceptor drones that started production in February. Another UK-headquartered Ukrainian military tech company, UForce, produces the Magura sea drone.

World

North Korean Leader Kim Backs China’s Push for ‘Multi-polar World’ in Talks with FM

This picture taken on April 10, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 11, 2026, shows Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shaking hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the headquarters of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA / KCNA via KNS / AFP)

09:04-11 April 2026 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1447 AH

North Korean Leader Kim Backs China’s Push for ‘Multi-polar World’ in Talks with FM

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un voiced support for China’s push to build a “multi-polar world” and called for deeper ties between the traditional allies during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, state media said Saturday.

During the meeting Friday, Kim said his government will fully support Chinese efforts to achieve territorial integrity based on its “one-China principle,” a reference to Beijing’s official position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also outlined North Korea’s position on unspecified regional and international issues of “mutual concern” and said sustained development of ties between the two countries has become more crucial in the current geopolitical environment, KCNA said.

Wang, on a two-day trip to North Korea, said the countries’ relations were entering a “new phase” following a summit last year between Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a “multi-polarized world,” Kim has sought to break out of international isolation and push a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with governments locked in confrontations with the United States.

While Russia has been Kim’s top foreign policy priority in recent years, sending thousands of troops and large weapons shipments to support its war against Ukraine, he has also been cozying up to China, the North’s traditional main ally and economic lifeline.

Kim joined Russian President Vladimir Putin at a World War II ceremony in Beijing in September and held his first summit with Xi Jinping in six years, moves that supported his efforts to portray North Korea as part of a united front against Washington.

North Korea and China last month resumed direct flight and passenger train services, which had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Wang arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday in his first visit to North Korea in seven years. He earlier met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Sun Hui and discussed ways to facilitate further cooperation and exchanges and holding “in-depth” talks on international issues, state media from both countries said.

The state media outlets did not mention whether Wang and North Korean officials discussed issues related to the US or the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Wang’s trip to North Korea came before US President Donald Trump travels to Beijing for a rescheduled summit with Xi Jinping in May. Some South Korean officials have expressed hope the Trump-Xi meeting could provide a diplomatic opening with Pyongyang.

Kim has suspended all meaningful dialogue with the US and South Korea since the collapse of his diplomacy with Trump in 2019 during the American president’s first term. Kim has since taken a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he now defines as his “most hostile” adversary, and rejected US offers to resume talks, calling on Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition.

World

Taiwan Spotted Chinese Warplanes as Xi Met Opposition Leader in Beijing

A man uses his smartphone as a giant screen broadcasts news showing Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands with Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's largest opposition party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, April 10, 2026. (Reuters)

08:56-11 April 2026 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1447 AH

Taiwan Spotted Chinese Warplanes as Xi Met Opposition Leader in Beijing

Taiwan's defense ministry said on ‌Saturday that it spotted 16 Chinese warplanes operating near the island the previous day, around the same time China's president was meeting the Taiwanese opposition leader.

Late on Friday morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping met Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) in Beijing, where Xi said he "absolutely would not tolerate" independence for Taiwan, which China views as its own territory.

Cheng has portrayed her visit as a reconciliation mission to lessen tensions, and told Xi ‌she looked forward ‌to the KMT and Communist Party advancing ‌the "institutionalization" ⁠of peace across the ⁠Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's defense ministry, in its daily report on Chinese military activity in the previous 24 hours, said that 16 Chinese warplanes flew near the island from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on Friday. Xi and Cheng met at 11 am (0300GMT).

Shen Yu-chung, a deputy minister at Taiwan's China-policy-making Mainland Affairs ⁠Council, told reporters in Taipei on Saturday that ‌using military coercion against Taiwan as ‌a means of applying pressure for political negotiations has always ‌been China's "go-to tactic".

"So on one hand we see them ‌sending out messages of peace, while on the other hand they continue to use military force to pressure Taiwan without letup," he added.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a ‌request for comment.

In Beijing, KMT Vice Chairman Chang Jung-kung said that the key to promoting peace ⁠lies ⁠in offering Taiwan's people a choice between peace and reconciliation, or war.

Engaging with China and promoting cross-strait peace yields "peace with dignity," not the bowing of one's head to "shake hands" like Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has said, Chang added, according to a KMT statement.

Lai's office said on Friday night that what the Xi-Cheng meeting sought to highlight was that "Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China" and to advance "the annexation of Taiwan".

"Taiwan's future can only be decided by the Taiwanese people themselves," Lai's spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.

Taiwan Says 8 Chinese Aircraft Crossed Taiwan Strait Median Line

Taiwan Says 8 Chinese Aircraft Crossed Taiwan Strait Median Line

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